Crossovers
This article describes a fictional crossover which is the placement of two or more otherwise discrete fictional characters, settings, or universes into the context of a single story. The following information was obtained at Wikipedia. Crossovers in the Comics Crossovers of multiple characters owned by one company or published by one publisher, have been used to set an established continuity, where characters can frequently meet within one setting. This is especially true of comic book publishers, as different characters in various Marvel, DC or Valiant comic books frequently interact with one another since they live in the same "universe." For example, in the Marvel Comics universe, the X-Men have frequent dealings with another group of Marvel heroes, the Fantastic Four, just as in the DC Comics Universe, Batman and Superman frequently collaborate. In comic book terminology, these "guest star" roles are common enough that they are not considered crossovers. A crossover in comic book terms only occurs when a story spans more than one title. This has led to "crossover events", in which major occurrences are shown as affecting (almost) all the stories in the shared universe. The first major crossover event was spearheaded by, then Marvel Editor-in-Chief, Jim Shooter. As a way to further toy sales he devised the Secret Wars crossover which brought all the major Marvel heroes into a twelve issue mini-series to battle a common threat. After the threat was dealt with they all returned to their regular titles. This Secret Wars was hailed as both a critical and commercial success largely because the events of the crossover had lasting effects on the characters (such as the introduction of Spider-Man's black suit which would later become the villain Venom). Jim Shooter later perfected his crossover at Valiant Comics with the Unity event. Unity brought all the Valiant characters together to defeat Mothergod but was told within the existing Valiant Comics titles (and two bookend special issues). Readers were not obliged to buy all 18 chapters as the story was coherent when reading just one title, but far more layered when all were read. Like Secret Wars, the Unity crossover had lasting effects on the Valiant universe most notably the introduction of Turok, the birth of Magnus Robot Fighter and the death of a major Valiant hero. The Aliens Versus Predator franchise was a success that continued into many games and two movies and even an Aliens Versus Predator Versus The Terminator. Crossovers between established Television shows Crossovers involving principals can also occur when the characters have no prior relationship, but are related by time period, locale or profession. Such crossovers were characteristic of early Warner Bros. westerns. Perhaps the biggest such crossover was seen in the episode "Hadley's Hunters" from the fourth season of Maverick. It featured the lead characters of Cheyenne, Bronco, Lawman and Sugarfoot, along with signature props from Colt .45 and even the non-Warner's western, Wanted: Dead or Alive.12 While seeing so many crossovers in one episode is rare today, the Law and Order franchise rivals the old ABC/Warner's westerns in terms of frequency. Like them, the Law and Order series afford a commonality of setting which lends itself to crossovers. Though most common on shows of the same production company, they have also occurred because shows share the same distributor or network. A good example of this kind of link is that between Murder She Wrote and Magnum, P.I.. Both these shows were made by different companies, but owned by Universal Studios and broadcast on CBS. A more unusual case is that of Mad About You and Friends, which are conjoined by the character of Ursula Buffay. Neither show shares any production or distribution commonality whatsoever, but, rather, an actress (Lisa Kudrow), a setting (New York City) and a schedule (Friends initially followed Mad About You on NBC's Thursday night schedule). Also, on The King of Queens, characters from Everybody Loves Raymond appear occasionally in cameos with Doug and the rest of the cast. Mad About You and Friends share another type of "network crossover." On rare occasions, networks have chosen to theme an entire night's programming around a crossover event. In their case, a New York City blackout caused by Paul Reiser's character on Mad About You was experienced by the characters on Friends and Madman of the People.3 But event nights can also be linked by a single character's quest across multiple shows on the same evening. ABC attempted this kind of "event night" crossover with its Friday night programming during the 1997 season. There, they proposed that the titular character of Sabrina the Teenage Witch should chase her cat, Salem, through Boy Meets World, You Wish and Teen Angel because it had run away with a "time ball" that was displacing each show through time.4 Another ABC crossover was featured on a Saturday morning cartoon-- it featured none of the characters from any of the 1 Saturday Morning shows, but a common "villain" named S.T.U.A.R.T. appeared on Doug, Recess and Pepper Ann. Sometimes the crossovers between adjoining shows can be even more subtle than these examples, such as when characters at the end of an episode of Spin City decided to watch a broadcast of the fictional sports telecast, Sports Night, which led immediately into an episode of the sitcom of the same name. On other occasions, crossovers between established shows can occur without a network or production commonality, but simply because there is some narrative rationale for the crossover. The appearance of detective John Munch (from Homicide: Life on the Street) on The X-Files happened merely because the episode revolved around a crime scene in Baltimore, a logical place for characters on The X-Files to have encountered Munch. Munch would also appear on the TV series Law & Order in which it had one episode which began on that series in New York City and concluded in Baltimore on Homicide: Life on the Street. Later, when Homicide went off the air, Detective Munch ends up leaving Baltimore to move to New York, and becoming a permanent character (as New York City Detective Munch) on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. A two-part crossover episode between CSI with Without a Trace aired on November 8, 2007. The first hour was on CSI and the second hour was on Without a Trace. Unofficial crossovers In contrast with legal crossovers, unofficial crossovers are created solely because of the artistic pleasure derived by its producers. Generally, unofficial crossovers take the form of fan-written fiction and fan art, but it is increasingly prevalent in amateur films and audio. Whereas official crossovers are frequently stymied by such concerns as copyright, royalties payments, quality of writing and ownership of the characters, unofficial crossovers are unfettered by such concerns, so long as property holders do not exercise their right to enjoin the distribution of such material. A good example would be the unauthorised live action fan film: Batman: Dead End, which brings together the properties of Batman, Alien and Predator in one setting. The comedy music song and video "Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny" is like a giant crossover featuring many famous real and fictional characters battling in one giant showdown. A fictional crossover is the placement of two or more otherwise discrete fictional characters, settings, or universes into the context of a single story. They can arise from legal agreements between the relevant copyright holders, or because of unauthorized efforts by fans. For example, many such works involving the Star Trek and Star Wars franchises exist throughout the Internet, with many dedicated websites and newgroups. In the film I Am Legend, a billboard can be seen in Times Square depicting a crossover film of Batman and Superman, with a release date of May 15, 2010. Unofficial crossovers can also occur in a "what-if" scenario. The most notable is an episode of Family Guy entitled "Lois Kills Stewie" which turned out to be a simulation along with the previous episode "Stewie Kills Lois". Stewie Griffin is confronted by Stan Smith and Avery Bullock from American Dad! while hacking into the central power grid at the CIA in a latest plan for world domination. Stewie mistakes Stan for Joe Swanson, due to notable similarities between the two shows. Stewie threatens to turn off all the electricity in the world until Stan and Bullock fulfill his demands of being "President of the World", which they do. Even though this never really happened (the entire episode was a virtual reality simulation run by Stewie), unlike the episodes "Meet the Quagmires" and "Blue Harvest", (which each had brief cameos by Roger the Alien) this is considered by some to mark the first official appearance of American Dad! characters in a Family Guy episode. "Sherlock Holmes's War of the Worlds" introduces the famous detective to the scene of London occupied by Martian invaders, depicted by H.G. Wells - the crossover facilitated by the fact that both works, set in late Victorian London, are now in the public domain and can be freely used and modified. Category:Crossovers